NRL Team of the Week: A family affair as the Mays and the Trbojevics make the cut

It’s been a long time since we had two sets of brothers in our team of the week.

It’s even longer since we had three Wests Tigers, too, but after a stunning victory on Sunday afternoon, they deserved a bit of love.

There’s a lot of familiar faces this week. Payne Haas had the bye, so missed out, but a few perennial favourites secured their spot.

We’re reaching the point where we might have to rename the LRL XIII the Blayke Brailey Appreciation Society. Between him and Terrell May, it’s half of the season.

No surprises for guessing the other brother, then – or the other pair, who remain rugby league’s most prominent siblings. Let’s get into it.

1. Dylan Edwards (Panthers)

Penrith have had to box clever in recent weeks, stuck between needing the wins to make the finals and having to rest players who still get called up for every rep game despite their collective loss of form at the start of the year.

With Isaah Yeo, Nathan Cleary and Liam Martin all sidelined, there was a serious leadership vacuum to be filled – but Edwards rose to the task.

The fullback pushed 300m with ball in hand, broke a ludicrous 15 tackles, scored two and set up another. Oh, and he went 5/5 with the boot, too.

2. Xavier Coates (Melbourne)

Melbourne were a little unlucky to lose to Manly on Saturday night following a soft late penalty goal, with Xavier Coates perhaps the unluckiest of the lot.

Had it gone the other way, the PNG winger would have been a clear man of the match thanks to his superb hat trick, which showcased all of his finishing ability.

There was a huge catch high above Lehi Hopoate, a classic dive at the corner and a trademark around-the-corner-post effort as well.

3. Taylan May (Tigers)

Playing his first game in the NRL since May of last year, Taylan May reminded fans what he can do with a superb showing in his Wests Tigers debut.

There’s not much sympathy for him – go Google why he wasn’t playing – and in his absence, the NRL moved on. It was easy to forget what a talent May was when he broke through.

That was evident at Leichhardt on Sunday: the centre was his side’s best player, scoring one and setting one up, averaging 10m per carry and breaking nine tackles.

4. Tom Trbojevic (Manly)

The Tommy Turbo centre experiment seems set to continue after a third consecutive win for Manly with their superstar out on an edge.

Trbojevic was exceptional on Saturday night, proving a handful in yardage and bringing his ball-playing, too.

We didn’t get as much of the roving commission as we have seen on other occasions – probably a function of playing Melbourne in Melbourne – but even as a nuts and bolts centre rather than an auxiliary extra fullback, Turbo proved he’s got the lot.

5. Jacob Kiraz (Bulldogs)

The Lebanese King was at his best in the Dogs’ somewhat fortunate win over St George Illawarra on Saturday.

He is, in the nicest possible way, a terror of a runner, the definition of ‘all elbows and knees’. Kiraz might be the hardest winger to tackle in the NRL, with an uncanny ability to jumble his way out of collisions and, more than anyone else, get an offload away.

He’s got the fourth most of them in the league, and was actually under-average this weekend with two, but Kiraz did manage six tackle breaks and 177m to compensate.

6. Ethan Strange (Raiders)

There was a cruel irony in seeing Ethan Strange top of the league and man of the match for Canberra the day after Jack Wighton, who he replaced, clocked up his ninth consecutive loss in South Sydney colours.

Strange was always going to get a break somewhere, and it’s not like he needed Wighton to leave to get that spot, but it certainly helped. This week was close to Strange’s best game in the NRL, providing crucial interventions when his side wobbled slightly against lowly Parramatta.

Eight tackle breaks is huge for a five eighth, and his try with a minute to go was richly deserved.

7. Lachlan Galvin (Bulldogs)

There was an insane amount of pressure on Lachlan Galvin this weekend. The new Bulldog has been eased into the team, with coach Cameron Ciraldo reticent to shake a winning side, but with the attack waning, he finally pulled the plug on halfback Toby Sexton.

Galvin had never been named in the 7 jersey before in a senior match, but you wouldn’t have known. Matt Burton still did most of the distance kicking, but in every other way, it was Galvin taking control.

Crucially, when the game was on the line and there to be won late on, it was he who stepped up and made the play. That’s why Ciraldo picked him, and why he’s on the big bucks.

8. Terrell May (Tigers)

The Tigers prop is a permanent fixture in this team, and with good reason.

This was another 80 minute showing in the middle – he is now three games’ worth of minutes more than any other full-time prop this year – as well as another week where he topped the offloads, made the third most metres and the second most tackles.

The stats will always look good, but the impact of that production is even more. May sent his brother in for a try, created the play-the-ball from which the winning field goal was scored and even managed 17 decoys – he even works hard when he’s not getting the footy.

9. Blayke Brailey (Sharks)

Blayke Brailey is just about the best player in the NRL at the moment, and a lock in this team.

His performance was the difference between the sides on Friday night in the Shire, setting up the first and the second tries for Cronulla to take his try assist tally to five in as many games.

The hooker also ran for close to 100m, double his career average, but the third time he has hit that number in those same five games.

10. Jake Trbojevic (Manly)

Our second familial double of the week, Jake Trbojevic provided the great meme of the weekend and one of the best performances too.

Jurbo went the full 80 in the middle in the win over Melbourne, tackling everything that moved in a typically committed performance. His passion spilled over a little, getting into a tete-a-tete with Trent Loeiro, but even that showed just how up for it Jake was.

The clip of him returning to the dressing room and punting a box of water bottles, captured on the sheds camera, will live for years.

11. Zac Hosking (Raiders)

The Raiders’ back row is just about the hardest to get into at the moment: there’s Origin level Hudson Young, plus an England international in Morgan Smithies and Corey Horsburgh, who was criminally overlooked in Origin. Matty Nicholson, too, would be there if not injured.

Yet the standout at the moment is Zac Hosking, who again impressed this weekend. He got a try, which is always nice, but also managed a team-high 39 tackles on the edge and some great off-ball work too, offering himself as an option and making life easier for his teammates.

12. Connolly Lemuelu (Dolphins)

This was one of the great back-row showings of the year from Lemuelu, who obliterated the Cowboys on Thursday night.

He smashed out 223m from 21 runs across a full 80 minutes, a number that would make any front rower happy.

That came with two line breaks of his own, running off the hip of Jake Averillo and using Herbie Farnworth as a stalking horse, and two try assists too, turning those moments into points.

13. Adam Doueihi (Tigers)

Who else but the drop goal hero?

Doueihi has been the Tigers’ creative hub in recent weeks, moonlighting as halfback, five eighth and now lock forward as Benji Marshall looks to find the place for him in the team in which he can have the most impact.

This was very much a passing role, acting more like an auxiliary half rather than a traditional loose forward, but that’s what Doueihi does best. He’s a super smart footballer.

And, of course, when the moment came to win the match – there he was.